Your land, a bridge between East and West and a meeting-point for numerous cultural currents,” Pope Francis said, “embodies many of the distinctive marks of this region. With the elegant testimonies of its Byzantine and Ottoman past, its lofty mountain fortresses and the splendid iconostases of its ancient churches, which speak of a Christian presence dating back to apostolic times, your country reflects all the depth and richness of its millennial culture, the Pope Francis said in his address to government officials, representatives of the diplomatic corps, and members of the civil society at the presidential residence Tuesday morning.

But allow me to say that these great cultural treasures are themselves only a reflection of your more precious patrimony: the multiethnic and multi-religious countenance of your people, the legacy of a rich and, indeed, complex history of relationships forged over the course of centuries, Pope Francis said.

This crucible of cultures and ethnic and religious identities,” The Pope continued, “has resulted in a peaceful and enduring coexistence in which those individual identities have found expression and developed without rejecting, dominating or discriminating against others.

They have thus given rise to a fabric of relationships and interactions that can serve as an example and a point of reference for a serene and fraternal communal life marked by diversity and reciprocal respect, the Pope said.

Diversity and reciprocal respect, the Pope said, were the very features he believed to be most important for the nation to integrate into Europe.

“It is my hope,” the Pope added, “that this integration will develop in a way that is beneficial for the entire region of the Western Balkans, with unfailing respect for diversity and for fundamental rights.